


stay with me seven days a week

by kkumie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Birthday, Break Up, Dating, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Graduation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non-Linear Narrative, Post-Break Up, Romance, Spoilers, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24668575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkumie/pseuds/kkumie
Summary: akaashi sits in the crowd as he watches bokuto play for the msby black jackals.or: in which akaashi reminisces about the time he spent together with bokuto.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 5
Kudos: 110





	stay with me seven days a week

Akaashi bit into his onigiri, adjusting his glasses with his free hand. Although he wasn’t a fan of crowded areas, it was out of question to not show up at Bokuto’s match. 

His former teammate and _senpai_ was a current outside hitter for the MSBY Black Jackals, a Division 1 team in Japan’s V League. To say that Akaashi was proud of him would be an understatement.

Even though Akaashi was proud, he definitely wasn’t surprised. Since the day he walked into that volleyball court as a 16-year-old first year and saw Bokuto practicing spikes, he knew that the boy would definitely go on to do things greater than anyone could expect. 

His thoughts are interrupted when he watches Bokuto hit a service ace against the other team, beaming and yelling as he does a full 360 to see the faces of everyone in the crowd. Bokuto is the same as before--happy-go-lucky, overly excited, and occasionally in emo mode. 

Except Akaashi is not there anymore to help him out of his mood swings. Instead, it’s his new teammates, who pat him on the back whenever Bokuto looks dejected. It’s a quick rub of his shoulders or overly enthusiastic praise--tactics that Akaashi had perfected back in high school. 

Fast forward a year from when they first met and Akaashi is 17, Bokuto’s designated setter and best friend. While he may find Bokuto annoying and childish, he could never cut the bond between the two of them--he meant too much to Akaashi. 

When Akaashi turned 18 and arrived into his third year, Bokuto was already training to join the MSBY Black Jackals. His presence was sorely missed, and Akaashi never took their usual route when walking back home. He missed thinking about ways to save Bokuto from emo mode, he missed catching Bokuto's jacket, and he missed Bokuto’s straight spikes. The team wasn’t the same without him, and it hit Akaashi even harder that all of the third years had graduated along with Bokuto. 

But most of all, Akaashi missed how he shared his first kiss with Bokuto.

Their relationship blossomed in the winter, when Bokuto confessed on Akaashi’s birthday. It was the first time Akaashi had seen Bokuto stutter, and so Akaashi reciprocated his love in the only way that he could think of--a kiss. They kissed after they were left alone in Akaashi’s living room, melting into the sweet taste of cake.

And so continued a blissful half-year, complete with teasing from their teammates (who weren’t surprised at all). They never brought up the topic of Bokuto graduating before Akaashi, as they both were unsure of the outcome. Akaashi never expected much from the relationship, because he was always over-thinking. Browsing online forums and anonymously asking for advice, almost every answer he received confirmed his suspicions that high school relationships would never last. 

All Akaashi could do was savor that sweet taste, patiently waiting for a cavity as he sunk his teeth in deeper and deeper. Bokuto wasn’t one to be outshined, and they spent almost every minute together during that half-year. Whether it was privately kissing in training camps or walking home together everyday, Akaashi doubted those forums--even if it was just for a split second. 

In December of his 19th year, Akaashi was currently double majoring in communications and journalism. And in that month, he turned on his TV to watch a quick news broadcast, surprised by what he had found instead. Bokuto was an official member of the MSBY Black Jackals, and Akaashi watched as the boy on TV yelled “Hey, hey, hey!” with all his passion and energy. Looking down at his papers, he suddenly felt the chill of reality sinking in. 

_I’m holding him back._

Dialing Bokuto, he’s met with a “What’s up?” in two rings. Akaashi blinks twice to make sure that he’s really doing it.

“Let’s break up.” 

Akaashi hears the clock tick in his ear for a solid minute before he hears Bokuto again. 

“...why?” 

“I-I don’t love you anymore.”

“Say it to my face. Why are you doing this over the phone?”

“I can’t,” Akaashi clenches his fist in order to steady his breathing. They both know that Akaashi doesn’t mean it, and they both know that Akaashi wouldn’t be able to look him in the eyes. 

“Please, Akaashi, I’ll let you go if that’s what you really want, but I want to see you,” 

“...fine. Tomorrow, at night, where we held hands in public for the first time,” Akaashi hangs up, and feels tears from his eyes, wiping them away with haste as he dives back into studying. 

Akaashi is 19 when he breaks up with Bokuto. The irony is that they break up in the very same month that he first kissed Bokuto--Akaashi’s birthday month. Some part of Akaashi hopes for a text from Bokuto whenever December passes by, but he stays up and watches the clock turn toward 12:01 without a single sign from the other boy. 

Bokuto is surprisingly detached to Akaashi after they break up. Akaashi thought he would be the kind of person to keep texting him, but he hasn’t heard from the other boy since that night.

Instead, it's Akaashi who's the one that's still attached to his former lover. Whenever a spell of sentiment washed over him, Akaashi would go on the Black Jackals’ official website to look at Bokuto’s profile. At 6’3”, he’s grown since their high school days.

 _Bokuto still wears those weird thigh-high knee pads, huh._

Akaashi gets a bitter taste when watching Bokuto play, but his reflexes can’t help but admire him whenever he appears on television. He watches the way his shoulders bend as he flies to hit a spike. He watches the way Bokuto’s face clenches when he hits a straight spike. He watches Bokuto after a match, putting on his “The Way of An Ace” jacket that he still wears to this day. 

At 22, Akaashi attends one of Bokuto’s matches. 

_Miya’s onigiri are pretty damn good. Too bad he stopped playing volleyball, though. Well, at least Atsumu is still playing, and with Bokuto nonetheless._

There’s four more points before the Black Jackals take victory. Akaashi can tell that Bokuto is beaming, because in a time like this, everyone’s focused on them. And so Akaashi hopes and hopes that they can take victory, because there’s nothing like watching Bokuto win a match. 

After four points, the Black Jackals win a sweeping victory. Bokuto’s the last one off the court, waving at everyone and attempting to do cartwheels. Sakusa has to stop signing autographs as he drags him off the court (with gloves, of course), and Bokuto waves one last time before Atsumu joins Sakusa in getting Bokuto into the locker room. 

“Nice match, huh?” Udai says to Akaashi, as the crowd starts to disperse. 

“Definitely,” Akaashi sometimes edits Udai’s manga, as Akaashi works for a major publisher and Udai has taken up being a mangaka. The two have become good friends, especially through their reminiscence of high school volleyball. “You know, Hinata always looked up to you. You could say that you convinced him to play volleyball,”

Udai chuckles at the remark. “Look at us now. I’m making manga about zombies and he’s out there being a monster,” 

Akaashi laughs at this, as they both stand up and gather their stuff. “Udai, you can leave without me. I promised my friend I would wait for him,” 

“See you at work then,” Udai waves as he turns toward the exit, leaving Akaashi to go the opposite way as he looks for the locker room. Finding a bench, he sits down and gets out his phone, distracted by the yelling in the locker room. 

“Did you see my spike?? Did you??? Oh come on, it was soooo cool right!!? The way I hit it…it felt like…fwahhhh!! Everyone was staring at me!!” Bokuto’s voice grows louder and louder, and Akaashi feels his heart start thumping. “That was such a good win!! Hinata, you were pretty cool too…not as cool as me though, haha!! Oh, also…” Bokuto stops mid-sentence when he turns toward Akaashi, locking eyes with each other. “Sorry, Hinata, let’s talk sometime later, see you at practice tomorrow!” 

Akaashi smiles at the golden-eyed boy. 

“Aww, you waited for me??” Bokuto runs over to sit next to Akaashi, laying his head on top of his shoulder. 

“What does it look like,” Akaashi chides, flicking Bokuto on the forehead. 

“Ou-ch, Akaashi, that hurt,” Bokuto pouts, trying to draw out some sympathy from the other boy. 

“That’s the point,” Akaashi smiles, standing up and tossing an onigiri to Bokuto. “Your favorite,” 

“You leave me with no choice--I forgive you for the flick, Akaashi,” Bokuto smiles as they leave together, tossing his gym bag across his shoulder. Bokuto’s warm hands grab onto Akaashi’s bony ones, interlocking as they match the pace of their steps. 

“Let’s go home, Bokuto, you did really well today,”

“Akaaaashi, this was definitely one of my best days,” Bokuto squeezes Akaashi’s hand as they exit the building, walking towards their apartment.

Because at 21, they both realized that they couldn’t be without each other. On that fateful December day, Bokuto showed up outside Akaashi’s door with the same vanilla cake that started their romance. And Akaashi cried and cried as Bokuto clung unto him, because no other person could make him feel the same way. It was Bokuto when he entered the gym at 16 and it was Bokuto when Akaashi realized at 21 that they were infinite together. And it didn’t matter what came in between them, for they weren’t two halves anymore--they were one. 

Akaashi doesn’t let go of Bokuto’s hand the whole walk home, and Bokuto can't stop blushing at Akaashi's honesty.

And they both wouldn't have it any other way. 


End file.
